I. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a model-based development and runtime environment for applications and, more particularly, to methods and systems for integrating different World Wide Web applications, located in the runtime environment, into an online workflow.
II. Background of the Invention
To gain a sustainable competitive advantage, companies seek to drive collaborative business. To achieve this goal of collaborative business, companies are continually looking to integrate their existing heterogeneous information technology (IT) landscapes and extend this integration to their business partners, customers, and suppliers.
A particular field within this heterogeneous IT landscape is Web applications. A Web application is a computer program that can be delivered to computers from a server over a network, such as the Internet or an intranet. Web applications are beneficial in that they are a part of a server-based computing model in which application processing, administration, support, and deployment are based on a centralized server. A user of a Web application may interface with the application through a user interface, such as a browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer) operating on a user's system. The user's system is usually referred to as a thin client, since very little processing of the Web application is actually done on the user's system but instead on the server. Through the Web browser, the user views and works with the Web application and data, and screen views are sent over the network connection between the user's system and the server.
The problem that exists with conventional Web applications is that they are not incorporated into one online workflow. These applications for the most part function separately. For example, a business might have a Web application designed for purchasing while a vendor to that business might have a separate Web-based catalog application. A user of the purchasing application may regularly need information from the catalog application, but these two different Web applications do not work together as part of an integrated online workflow.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a model-based development and runtime environment for Web applications operating in conjunction with other Web applications using, for example, mechanisms such as SAP's Business Server Pages (BSP), Java Server Page (JSP), Active Server Page (ASP), and Microsoft's .Net. This model-based development and runtime environment may provide for the integration of Web applications into other Web applications, and provide customers with a more seamless workflow interaction of heterogeneous Web applications.